If you ever needed motivation to be successful, here are a dozen surprisingly rich people who have done very well for themselves in both quick paydays and well-played careers of longevity and smart spending. It’ll inspire you to go out there and write a hit song, start your own clothing line, or just go back in time and be born into money.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Estimated Net Worth: $200 million
She might be considered the First Lady of Comedy, having gone from “Saturday Night Live” in the ’80s to “Seinfeld” in the ’90s up to her hit “Veep” today, but not only does Julia have a net worth of $200 million on her own, but her father’s business is worth several billions. Her estimated net worth including that little nugget of information is closer to $3 billion.
J.K. Rowling
Estimated Net Worth: $1 billion
Who says writing is a pipe dream when you can squeeze out fiction worth a billion big ones? Between her literary, film and licensing sales for her Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling has become one of the biggest writers in history. Her last two books alone sold more than $20 million copies while the films grossed more than $7 billion. It’s safe to say she’s a bit of a wizard herself.
Mitt Romney
Estimated Net Worth: $250 million
Successful businessman and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has a surprising amount of money for someone who had one of the most expensive presidential campaigns in history, despite losing. Romney had to sell off stocks during his run for presidency, ones that might conflict with his campaign stances, as well as a way to support his failed attempts at earning the presidential office, but he remains about as wealthy as he was five years ago.
Giorgio Armani
Estimated Net Worth: $7 billion
They say the clothes make the man, and in this case, the clothes make the man very rich. Anyone would expect Mr. Armani to be rich from his fashion empire, but not that rich, except that Armani now has his name in seven luxury hotels and three resorts overseas, including Dubai, all of which have interior design done by Armani himself.
Dave Grohl
Estimated Net Worth: $260 million
People think of alt-rocker Dave Grohl as the lead guy of Foo Fighters, but people tend to forget he was a drummer for one of the best-selling rock bands ever considering Nirvana’s short lifespan. Between Nirvana album sales and royalties, his eight studio albums and consecutive tours with Foo Fighters, film career and now HBO special for his band’s new album, it should come as no surprise that Dave is worth more than the average self-taught, radio-friendly rocker. Not relatively bad, considering Bob Dylan is worth $180 million.
Eric Clapton
Estimated Net Worth: $250 million
With more than 50 years of music under his belt, a boatload of awards and hit singles, Clapton made a decent chunk of change already. In addition, he’s a bit of an art collector and recently sold at auction for more than $30 million, which is the most in a transaction by any single living artist. Now Eric has earned his way towards $250 million with no end in sight.
Larry David
Estimated Net Worth: $900 million
LD has a huge back-end on “Seinfeld” syndication and box sets earnings. The co-creator and now HBO star also made quite the lump sum in the late ’90s as “Seinfeld” wrapped its run. The show alone has made nearly $3 billion since going off the air, and surprisingly enough, Larry David’s net worth is more than Jerry Seinfeld himself, who is at around $820 million.
Celine Dion
Estimated Net Worth: $500 million
Between Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe Awards for her hit song from “Titanic,” Dion hasn’t had any trouble with record and concert sales going through the roof as one of the fastest earning entertainers in the world with more than 200 million record sales since 1997. That’s a lot more than what U2-the biggest current rock band-has sold in their entire career as a band.
Howard Stern
Estimated Net Worth: $500 million
Stern made a steady living on his radio show for nearly two decades, and then in 2006, he was offered a hefty contract with Sirius radio, which guaranteed him $100 million (annually) for expenses. Within five years, he had a net worth of $500 million. Looks like having a filthy mouth, getting celebs to say things they will say nowhere else, and getting girls to take their clothes off are very hot skills to have. A gig on “America’s Got Talent” doesn’t hurt either.
Dr. Dre
Estimated Net Worth: $780 million
With his record label Death Row Records, his album sales and acting career, along with his Aftermath Entertainment production company, Dr. Dre was already a wealthy man before his line of wireless headphones and speakers came out. Beats by Dre, recently bought by Apple for $3 billion, has not only helped Dr. Dre earn his title, he’s now well on his way to being the first billionaire rapper.
Bill Cosby
Estimated Net Worth: $350 million
Between having one of the longest running stand-up comedy careers and being a trailblazer on television, Bill Cosby is not only one of the funniest men alive, he’s the richest comedian and second richest African American actor at approximately $350 million. That’s more than Will Smith and Samuel L. Jackson combined. That’s a lot of pudding pops.
Bono
Estimated Net Worth: $900 million
It’s not surprising that Bono would be an incredibly wealthy rock star, but the fact that he has more money than Paul McCartney, John Lennon and any other musician is very impressive. That’s what 12 hit albums, 22 Grammy awards and an intimate relationship with Apple will do for you.
Also check out: A Day in the Life of Bono
Estimated net worths via Celebrity Net Worth, Forbes and TheRichest.
